Do you know what God feels when He comes to your heart and finds nothing?
The Sower returns to the field.
It is evening. A man stops at the edge of the field he sowed with his own hands. He chose the best seed and kept nothing for himself. He bends over the furrow and looks for a green shoot. He searches for a long time. And he finds none.
Christ told us the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3–9). We usually read it as a lesson about ourselves. Rarely do we stop at the man standing at the edge of the field and at what He feels.
Because the Sower is God. And the field is you.
The path, the rock, and the thorns
The seed was never at fault. Nor was the hand that scattered it, for it was not sown sparingly. The problem has always been the soil.
Some seeds fell on the path. This is the heart hardened by so many passages: worries, noise, thoughts we no longer choose. The Word reaches the ear but no longer finds the way to the heart.
Others fell on rocky ground. This is the heart that catches fire quickly. It weeps at a sermon, admires the saints, promises change. Then the first scorching heat comes and everything dries up, like a straw fire.
Others fell among thorns. This is the heart that wants both the good and everything else. Money, pride, quarrels, drunkenness, sexual immorality, the concern of appearing to be someone. They grow undisturbed beside the good shoot, until one day they choke it without a sound.
You do not have to look far for these three soils. You carry them all within you, on different days.
The Father’s sorrow
Have you ever seen a parent who gave everything for their child? And who now, grown old, sits at the window waiting for a phone call that no longer comes?
This is, in small measure, God’s sadness.
Or think of a gardener who tended a tree for years. He watered it, protected it from frost, propped it up when the wind bent it. Autumn comes with the basket in his hand. And he leaves with it empty.
God did not give us only a seed. He gave us His Son, the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died so that it might bear much fruit (John 12:24). He buried His own life in our field.
Then He comes, day after day, to your heart. Not as a judge with the ledger open, but as a Father who hopes. He looks for a forgiveness, a sincere prayer, a hand extended to the one who has nothing. The fruit of His love is our love.
When He finds nothing, He does not grow angry. He grieves. And His grief is heavier than any anger, because it comes from love. Through the prophet Isaiah He asks about His vineyard what more He could have done for it that He did not do (Isaiah 5:4).
What answer would we give Him today?
It is not yet too late
And yet the Sower has not stopped. This should break our hearts more than anything else. He knows how many seeds have been lost in us, and He sows again with the same generous hand.
The path can be plowed. The rock can be broken. The thorns can be pulled out. The soil cannot change its past, but it can choose what it becomes.
He does not ask you for a hundred seeds tomorrow. He asks you for a single green shoot. A forgiveness postponed for years. A general confession. A prayer spoken from the heart, not from habit. A phone call to someone who is alone.
This evening, when He bends once more over your heart, let Him find something. Not out of duty, but because He loves you. Perhaps this time He will leave your field with joy.
Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
@EconomyPlusAR هل تكفي الدعاية للتغطية علي جرائم النصب العقاري التي طالت أغلب البيوت المصرية؟!!!! من أين يأتي طلعت بهذه الأرقام الجميلة؟ ولماذا تدخل الرئيس شخصيا؟ وكم عدد الضحايا لماذا يغيب هذا الرقم عن معادلات طلعت مصطفي؟!!
@LoayAlkhteeb حضرتك مصدق نفسك. مئات الآلاف من الأسر النصب عليهم في العاصمة وغيرها، ومافيش تسليم لوحداتهم العقارية بعد ٢٠ سنه من الانتظار، ومافيش تعويض، ومافيش قانون، ومافيش حكومة، ومافيش رقابة، تفتكر ده مش سبب كافي للشكوي؟!!! ويا تري اللي حل مشكلة الباشا هايحل مشكلة المواطن العادي؟!!!
"I AM A WORM AND NOT A MAN" PSALM 22:6
“But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day, and it struck the plant, and it withered.” Jonah 4:7
The words are not a figure of speech, and they are not humility performed for an audience. They are the measure a man reaches when he stops comparing himself with other men and stands, at last, before God.
The prophet Jonah shows us the inverse. He had come out of the great fish. He had preached repentance. He had seen a whole city turn. God had forgiven. Jonah was not pleased. He sat to the east of the city, made himself shade, and waited for something other than mercy. Then a plant was given to him. It rose at once, covered his head, and eased the heat. He rejoiced over it. The next day a worm chewed through the plant. The plant dried up. The sun fell on the prophet’s head, and he asked to die.
Jonah is an image of Christ in the three days in the deep. Here he is an image of us: pity for what we did not plant and for which we never labored, and hardness toward the many. The gourd is every shelter we raise overnight - our rightness, the ease of our reputation, the place from which we judge the world. The worm is the small thing by which God takes from us what was keeping us alive under a false name.
Saint Barsanuphius the Great called himself a stinking worm, earth and ashes, not in order to be heard, but so that he would not deceive himself into thinking he was something, when he was nothing. True humility does not live in phrases. It lives in no longer treasuring one’s own shade.
Scripture and the Fathers distinguish the worms, so that we do not confuse the wound with damnation, or awakening with despair.
One is the worm of corruption. It is the passion that works in secret, the wound a man carries within him, and from which self-love feeds. It does not come first from outside. It is born from the heart’s consent; and once received, it gnaws at peace, darkens the mind, and fouls the life. While it is still here, it can still be confessed, cut away, healed.
The other is the worm that does not sleep, of which the Lord speaks when He says that in Gehenna “their worm does not die.” It is the reproach of conscience that can no longer be put to sleep. So long as a man still covers his wound with shade, conscience is silent, or only whispers. When the shade falls and repentance does not follow, the same worm that here can still heal becomes condemnation there. It no longer gnaws in order to wake. It gnaws without end, because the truth has remained and the turning has not come. Pride, pouring out the venom of obstinacy, feeds on the man and will not leave him.
That is why the word “I am a worm and not a man,” spoken in time, is not despair. It is mercy. It is to recognize the wound before its worm becomes sleepless.
And there is still the incorruptible Worm - Christ. Of Him it was said, “I am a worm and not a man”: not because He is less than man, but because He descended “into the lower parts of the earth.” Where the old worm had corrupted the race, the One who does not decay entered in. He cleansed the wound and remained incorrupt. He does not bypass conscience. He awakens it. He did not come to leave it devouring us. He came to illumine it and to reconcile it.
Hades swallowed a Worm and could not hold Him. In Jonah the same image turns upon us. The worm that strikes the gourd is, in the end, Christ: the One who dries up the shadow of the law and the shadow of vainglory, so that mercy may remain.
Whoever lets his gourd be eaten in time saves his conscience. Whoever defends his shade to the end is left with its worm.
That is why the word must be said slowly, and to the end: I am a worm and not a man. Not in order to annihilate myself. In order to stop loving my shade more than human beings, and more than God. And so that the worm in me may not remain, forever, awake without hope.
٣% نسبة التسليم العقاري في ميعاد التعاقد في مصر،
٩٧% من المطورين غير ملتزمين،
والتأخير وعدم احترام العقود يفوق الوصف، والتقاضي غير مجدي لعدم وجود قانون راد�� ضد النصب العقاري في مصر، وحكم القضاء غالبا لا ينفذ! والتقاضي يصل ل٢٠ سنه في المحاكم!
نريد حلا لا كذبا!
@AlsisiOfficial
@AsharqbEGY ٣% دي نسبة التسليم في ميعاده، ٩٧% من المطورين مش ملتزمين، والتأخير وعدم احترام العقود يفوق الوصف، والتقاضي غير مجدي لعدم وجود قانون رادع ضد النصب العقاري في مصر، ولو أخذت حكم قضائي غالبا لا ينفذ لاتهرب المطور من التنفيذ والقضايا تأخذ سنين تصل ل٢٠ سنه في المحاكم! نريد حلا لا كذبا!
@AlArabiya_Bn النصب العقاري في مصر بمباركة الحكومة وعلي عينك يا تاجر وماف��ش قضاء ولا جهاز رقابي يجيب حق المشتري لو البائع ماسلموش الوحدة من أساسه!!!
لك الله يا مصر!!!
A Lesson I Never Forgot
Father Bishoy Kamel, of blessed memory, had just finished the raising of incense in preparation for the late liturgy during the Great Lent. Suddenly, the church bells began ringing to welcome Pope Kyrillos VI, who had arrived unexpectedly,as was his habit when visiting churches.
Father Bishoy hurried to receive the saintly pope as he was climbing the church steps. At that moment, an elderly man who looked poor and in need stopped him. The pope gently patted the man on the shoulder, reassuring him that his request would certainly be answered. He asked the man his name and promised to pray for him.
Father Bishoy then stood holding the Lamb tray before the pope, while the deacons were chanting “Kyrie eleison.” His heart was full of joy that he was sharing this beautiful liturgy with the pope. Suddenly he heard the pope asking him:
“What was the name of the man who stopped us on the stairs, Father? A poor man may God relieve his distress.”
Amid all the emotions and the surprise of the moment, Father Bishoy could not remember the name, so he apologized and said he had forgotten.
The pope replied with a gentle smile that Father Bishoy never forgot for the rest of his life:
“His name is ‘so-and-so,’ Father. This is a trust, my beloved. Everyone who asks you must be prayed for,never forget them. The altar is beautiful, Father. It hears the groaning of the people. We are only stewards, and we must carry their voices.”
The blessed Father later said:
“It was a lesson I never forgot. From that day on, I made it a habit to write down names on a paper that I always keep with me, and I pray for them at the offering of the Lamb.”
كلام رائع و عميق
أثناء كتابة رسالته إلى أهل غلاطية، شعر بولس الرسول ببعض الإرهاق في عينيه، فقد كان يعاني من ضعف ببصره جعله يكتب "اُنْظُرُوا، مَا أَكْبَرَ الأَحْرُفَ الَّتِي كَتَبْتُهَا إِلَيْكُمْ" (غل٦: ١١) .. أمسك بولس بموبايله يتصفح أخبار الدولة الرومانية، فاستوقفه پوست كتبه أحد الأصدقاء يقول فيه "هو الذى أعطاك دون أن تطلب أتظن أنه لن يعطيك عندما ترجوه؟!"
فعلَّق بولس قائلاً: نعم أعطانى دون أن أطلب، وقد لا يعطينى حتى حين أرجوه! فما يحرك الله هو مسئوليته كأب، والتي تقتضي أحيانا أن يجيبنا بـ "لا" ..
علَّق صديقه: هذا الكلام محبِط! يجب أن تمنح الناس الأمل أن الله سيلبى طلباتهم، وأنه حتما "سيستجيب"!
أجابه بولس: وإن لم يستجب؟! وإن كان الخير ألا يستجيب؟ هذا التعليم هو الذي يحبط الناس ويصدمهم فى الله ..
علَّق صديقه: ألم يقل "كُلُّ مَا تَطْلُبُونَهُ فِي ٱلصَّلَاةِ مُؤْمِنِينَ تَنَالُونَهُ"؟ (مَت٢١:٢٢)
ثم ؤضع mention ليسوع المسيح ليستشهد بصاحب العبارة ..
أجابه بولس: أنا أعانى من مرض منذ عدة سنوات، وقد تَضَرَّعْتُ إِلَى الرَّبِّ ثَلاَثَ مَرَّاتٍ أَنْ يُفَارِقَنِي فَقَالَ لِي "تَكْفِيكَ نِعْمَتِي لأَنَّ قُوَّتِي فِي الضَّعْفِ تُكْمَلُ" لقد صليت بإلحاح لكنه أراد بهذا المرض، أن يحميني من مرض أخطر يهدد أبديتي، لذا لم يشفِ جسدي لِئَلاَّ ترْتَفِع روحي بِفَرْطِ الإِعْلاَنَاتِ ..
وجد بولس Like على تعليقه من يعقوب الرسول، والذي علَّق بدوره لصاحب الپوست: تعتقد أنك لو آمنت بما يكفي سيتحقق طلبك، وإلا فإيمانك ضعيف! لقد صلَّت الكنيسة كلها لأجلى كى أخرج من السجن، لكن الله لم يستجب، بل أخذنى إلى راحته حيث لا حزن ولا ألم ولا دموع ..
علَّق يسوع المسيح: الآية ليست وعدا بأن كل ما تريدونه سيحدث، لقد صليت في جسثيماني "يَا أَبَا الآبُ، كُلُّ شَيْءٍ مُسْتَطَاعٌ لَكَ [فَأَجِزْ عَنِّي هذِهِ الْكَأْسَ] وَلكِنْ لِيَكُنْ لاَ مَا أُرِيدُ أَنَا بَلْ مَا تُرِيدُ أَنْتَ" ولو كان الطلب بإيمان يعني حتمية تحقيقه، لما ذهبت إلى الصليب!
سأل صاحب الپوست: هذا يعني أنني قد أطلب بإيمان وتكون الإجابة "لا"؟
أجابه المسيح: الإيمان يشمل إيمانك بكل صفات الله، ليس فقط بمحبته ورحمته وقدرته، با أيضا بحكمته وعدله وصلاحه ..
"لا" هي جزء من علاقة الأب بابنه، "لا" قد تحمّي، وقد تغيّر الطريق .. قد تأخذك لخير أكبر، وقد تفتح بابا لم يخطر على بالك .. قد أستجيب بطريقة غير التي رسمتها أنت، كما أن هناك طلبات أسمح بأن تظل "وجعا مفتوحا" ليس لأنك قليل الإيمان، لكن لأن الألم يأخذك إلى عمق لن تصل إليه بطريقة أخرى .. الإيمان الحقيقي لا يعتمد على نتيجة الطلب، بل على ثقتك في حكمة وصلاح من تطلب منه ..
علّق صاحب الپوست: مكتوب "فَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ أَشْرَارٌ تَعْرِفُونَ أَنْ تُعْطُوا أَوْلاَدَكُمْ عَطَايَا جَيِّدَةً، فَكَمْ بِالْحَرِيِّ الآبُ الَّذِي مِنَ السَّمَاءِ"
أجاب يسوع: لم أقل "يعطيكم ما تطلبونه" بل "يُعْطِي الرُّوحَ الْقُدُسَ لِلَّذِينَ يَسْأَلُونَهُ" (لو١١: ١٣) فالإستجابة هي أن يأتي الروح حاملا معه السلام والتعزية وسط الضيقة، وقد قلت في موضع آخر "يَهَبُ خَيْرَاتٍ لِلَّذِينَ يَسْأَلُونَهُ" (مت٧: ١١) فصانع الخيرات لا يمنح إلا الخيرات، ويمنع عنك ما ليس خيرا لك ..
سأل صاحب الپوست: كثيرا ما نصلي من أجل شفاء مريض ولا يشفى، أو ربما يموت! فهل المرض خير؟
أجاب المسيح: المرض ليس خيرا، والموت ليس شرا، لكن المرض واحد من الأَشْيَاءِ التي تَعْمَلُ مَعًا لِلْخَيْرِ لِلَّذِينَ يُ��ِبُّونَ اللهَ، الَّذِينَ هُمْ مَدْعُوُّونَ حَسَبَ قَصْدِهِ .. شوكة في الجسد كانت ضرورية لخلاص بولس وأيوب، فالخير دائماً وأبداً فى الخلاص وليس في الراحة ..
كتب صاحب الپوست: لماذا أصلي إذن؟
يُتبع ...
د.فادي ميخائيل